Fractured Crusade
by Skchuu
Summary: Alternate Universe. When the death of Charles Xavier throws mutants and humans into turmoil, can old rivals play nice against the human menace? Pairings: mainly Todd/Kurt, Lance/Pietro, Gambit/Rogue Rated M for language, violence, and sex.
1. Chapter 1

Fractured Crusade

Skchuu

Alright, hey. Kchuu here. I know it's been a while. That's not to say Sketchy and I haven't been writing, oh, we have. We had the sequel to Oversensetive finished-but-unbeta'd for like, half a year now. And you wouldn't believe how much we've written. Kodd, Lietro, AU Fics, a bunch of stuff. But because of school, etc, we changed our format to be much more freeform. And since there's no hope of us ever getting motivated to edit and fill in the blanks for all those stories… (especially the ones where we just talked through scenes we didn't want to write) We decided to just start a new project for you. It's an AU, combining elements of all of our stories. It's a bit different from anything you've heard from us so far… but we think you'll like it. We hope. Haha. Anyway… enjoy our Fractured Crusade!

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

After the presence of mutants became known to the world, the citizens of the planet were split into two distinct groups: The Hunters, and the Hunted. Mutants were forced to band together and defend themselves... Or to go into hiding. Rogue militia groups affiliated with the Purifiers and the Church of Humanity ran rampant, murdering mutants and those who hid them with wanton brutality.

The Xavier Institute had become a sort-of safe haven, their walls and defenses keeping out even the most determined of militia-men. However, the two-pronged war against both Magneto's forces and the intolerant humans proved to be a far greater struggle than the young X-Men had reckoned for.

Professor Xavier forbid them from using lethal tactics, and the daily assault led to many tragic casualties. But one day, in a particularly well-planned raid... A traitorous mutant, a young, flighty girl promised a safe refuge with the humans for her work, stabbed the good professor to death. The humans repaid her for her work with a bullet to the back of her skull.

After the death of Charles Xavier, all hell broke loose. The forces of Magneto, Xavier's young students, and various bands of mutants and sympathizers banded together against the vicious humans.

The war had officially begun.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

"This freaking blows, man." A tall, broad-shouldered young man in a tank-top and baggy cargo pants leaned against a tree. His inky, blue-black hair was tied in a tiny ponytail, some pieces still falling free beside his face. He was armed to the teeth, with belts and pouches carrying all manner of explosives, guns, and three long, wicked knives stashed in their easily accessible holsters.

His uniform was very much like the one the members of the human militia wore, but no one could ever mistake this young man for human.

His whole body was covered, head to toe, with a coat of short, blue fur. His ears ended in long points, he had fierce, yellow eyes, and his long devil-tail swished behind his legs in irritation.

"I can't believe I have to babysit you. For leaking files to the humans, you should be put in jail! Or better yet, shot. Don't vorry, novhere deadly, but I think a couple bullets in your kneecaps vould take you out, eh, Toad?" He shuffled through the grass, his feet moving strangely in the standard issue combat boots to stand behind the younger mutant.

"You sure you're even fixing this electrical box the right vay? You're not turning it into some sort of spy-message-sending thing, right?" His voice was half-joking, but it had the ever-present undertone that all the old X-Men carried in their hearts: a constant, and deep sadness.

The other man scowled, but didn't look away from his work.

He was shorter than the other mutant, and looked almost human in comparison. He had short brown hair, pale skin, and slightly larger than normal hands. From a distance, he certainly _seemed_ human. But there were several small details that, with a trained eye, could show his mutanthood.

His hands had webbing between the fingers, and his legs seemed unusually muscled compared to the rest of his spindly body, which showed even through the tank top and army pants he wore. That, paired with how the goggles covering his eyes were just a little too wide set, made him have the appearance of a frog.

The man was busying himself by switching around wires in the electrical box, re-wiring it to the best of his abilities, which was quite a lot.

"Oh for the love of- Yes, I'm 'fixing it the right way'. And trust me, I'd rather take those bullets to my knees than have –you- follow me around twenty-four seven."

The frog-like mutant, known unsurprisingly as Toad, crossed two wires, making a spark leap between them, then slammed the door to the box shut.

"Done. Are yah happy now?"

"Yeah, vhateveh. You've still got vone more box to fix in this quadrant, and then back to your quarters." The blue man scowled down at his charge, and moved to grab him roughly around the shoulders.

"Vith my luck, even if you did get shot in the knees-" The pair disappeared in an explosion of purple-red smoke. They appeared about two miles away, at the site of a different electrical box.

"-I'd still have to tote you around anyvay... I vish somevone more pleasant could learn how to do this freaking electric-voodoo-crap." He rolled his eyes, and crouched beside the cap of this new box, straining, and then lifting the cover off.

On the inside, it looked as if rodents, or other small creatures had gnawed some of the wires through almost entirely. The carcass of a small mouse twitched as an electrical current still passed through it.

"Eeeugh. Ve finally found something that smells vorse than you..." Kurt wrinkled his sensitive nose and took several steps back, shoving his hands into his pocket, looking for smokes. Something about this muggy night made him uneasy.

Toad lifted his goggles and rubbed at his eyes.

Even with the extra eye protection he wore, looking at sparks of electricity in pitch dark took a toll on his eyes, and they were starting to hurt.

He gave a frustrated sigh, and put his goggles back on.

He took one look at the dead mouse and made a face of disgust.

He picked it up and tossed it to the side, ignoring the small spark of electricity that had stung his fingertips when he'd touched the rodent.

"Would you just shut your trap, yah ratty plush-toy? I wanna get back to bed as much as you do, and insultin' me doesn't help things go faster."

He started to re-attach the wires together, fixing the damage that the small animals had caused.

He kept at his work, loathing every second that he helped the so called 'mutant cause'.

Suddenly, he stopped fiddling with the wires, and his eyes moved to the woods several yards in front of them.

His eyes were sensitive to movement. Especially in the dark, and he'd just seen something move.

Something human-shaped.

"..Furball, I think we have company."

"I heard it." Kurt hissed, yellow eyes narrowing. His long ears seemed to twitch, listening intently for any sound of motion from the woods before him.

His two hands already held his long knives, and the hilt of a third blade was clutched tightly in his tail. In battle these tools paired with the blue mutant's uncanny teleportation ability made him a deadly force.

The shape in the woods moved again, coming towards them.

Kurt tensed, then brought back his arm, ready to chuck the knife at the figure with any sign of advancement-

Toad lifted his goggles off of his eyes, and squinted at the figure, trying to see if it was friend or foe.

The man's eyes widened with surprise, and he let out a chuckle.

"Heh, put away the knives, Nightcreeper. It's another mutant."

Pulling his goggles back down over his eyes, the scrawny man went back to work.

As he started to cross two un-joined wires, he called out to the figure who was approaching them.

"Yo, Josh's friend, right? Whatcha doin' out so late? It's past curfew for all you non-traitors slash people who stand back and creepily watch traitors."

A girl stepped out into the clearing, an incredibly annoyed expression on her face. She tucked some of her long, parted-in-the-middle brown hair behind one ear, grey eyes glinting when the moonlight hit them.

"My name is Helen. And Josh... Elixir... just needed some more plants and crap for a medicine. I was just trying to find some of the stuff he needed. He's practically passed out from all the injured people he's had to save today..." She shifted her basket to her other arm, various plants and roots sticking out of the top.

"Vell, you still shouldn't be out after curfew. Do you vant me to take you back to the New Mutant encampment, Helen?" Nightcrawler's face was stern. He had put the knives away immediately when he saw she wasn't a threat, but he was still wary of any mutant out past dark.

Behind his goggles, Toad's eyes lit up with a sudden hope.

"Yeah, girly. Quicker you get back, the quicker Jo-… 'Elixir' doesn't hafta worry 'bout getting' 'em, and can rest like an overworked, under appreciated guy should! Go on, have the blue wonder over there drop yah off. Then maybe I can finish this thing in peace!"

He tried to sound innocent, but inside, he was going crazy with anticipation. If she said yes, if that stupid blue furball took her back, he'd be unsupervised for a few seconds.

The moment he was left alone, he'd make a break for it. Run to the border, and pray he could find a way to make it past the barriers that were there, and that he wouldn't be caught before he got there.

Helen stuck out her tongue at the two men.

"No thanks, creepers. I can walk back there by myself. At least when I was on the run, we didn't have dumb curfews..." She looked at Kurt, narrowing her grey eyes. "Or over-paranoid security guards." She skulked away, through the woods, back towards camp.

"I mean, what is this, a safe haven or a freakin' concentration camp..." She grumbled this almost inaudibly as she walked away, staring angrily at the ground as her hands began to shake and vibrate uncontrollably with pent-up rage and power.

Kurt watched her go, arms crossed across his chest.

"How ungrateful. Though it's probably good that she didn't vant a lift..." He looked at the man fixing the wires on the ground next to him. "Knowing you, you'd probably make a break for it as soon as I left you alone."

After a moment, he crouched beside the brown-haired man, watching Toad work with a measure of curiosity.

"Vhy do you hate it here so much, anyvay, Todd...?"

The younger man tensed up, and he had to force his hands to not shake with the hateful emotions that were coursing through him.

"…My name isn't Todd anymore. It's Mortimer. Get it right you fucking creeper."

Mortimer turned his attention back to his work, trying to finish as quickly as he could.

He didn't want to be here, especially not with this guy.

Kurt knew way too much about him. All those former X-men did…

Kurt stepped back, standing, his hands coming up in a sign of surrender.

"Yeesh, frog-boy, sorry. I just get used to calling you vone thing, and then you go and change your whole name... Doesn't make sense, man." His tail lashed in annoyance, and he pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. He lit up, looking down at the man's work again.

"You about fucking done yet? I vould like to get in bed before dawn, you know... _Mor_timer _Toyn_bee." He accented the names in his German lilt, saying the boy's alias with slow, annoying precision.

Mortimer was silent for a while, simply working with the wires in the electrical panel.

He hated this man, how he mocked him constantly…He'd been doing it since they were kids…

He grabbed the last two disconnected wires, and tugged them towards each other.

"Just give me half a second, you'll get to your precious flea-bitten mattress soon eno-FFFUCK!"

Mort waved one of his hands in the air, hissing at the painful sting that a jolt of electricity from the wires had given him.

He scowled and grabbed the wire again, quickly forcing the two split halves together and backing off.

He stood and wiped his hands off on his pants, his expression full of frustration and hate.

"There. Now get us the fuck outta here."

Kurt rolled his eyes, and grabbed Mort from behind. He wrapped his arms around the younger mutant's thin torso, under his arms. He lifted the smaller guy slightly off the ground-it was easier to not take grass and things with them when he knew specifically where the Toad's matter ended and air began.

"Fine, ve'll leave already. No need to get pissy."

In a moment, they were in their tent. Kurt immediately dropped Mortimer over by his cot, then shuffled over to his mattress on the floor. He pulled off his shirt, and kicked his boots to the side at the same time. He undid several belts, stripping down almost instantly. He was exhausted... and he knew wake-up call was in less than three hours. …_Stupid Toad making us late..._

Mort sat down on his makeshift bed, feeling both extremely tired, and extremely annoyed.

He was a traitor. Any normal person would assume that meant he had less work to do, but no, he'd been given more to do than ever! Plus, now he had to have a babysitter watching him at all times…

He gave a weary sigh, and dragged his goggles off of his head, tossing them just below his cot so he could find them later, but not have them in the way.

He laid down, not even taking off any of his clothes, and turned so his back was to his roommate.

He hated this. He was treated like dirt, expected to do a ton of work, and now he even had his old rival and still enemy following him around twenty-four seven.

The man gave another sigh, and curled slightly into himself as he began to drift off.

…_Yeah, takin' two bullets to the knees would be better than this…_


	2. Chapter 2

Hey! Skchuu team here! Whassup? Thanks for giving this story a chance! Seriously, we love you people! In this chapter, we show you a little of our darling Maximoff twins. Though they're not quite so darling to each other. You'll also see someone else you might know-but here's where the AU comes in *wink*. Hope you enjoy! Next chap is going to be two characters you aren't very familiar with, and then right back to our main boys. Hope you guys bear with us, and like our story! Thanks for reading/reviewing, again, we love you.

Chapter 2

The mutant encampment was surrounded by woods, a natural barrier that they used to their advantage. The perimeter was checked almost constantly; normally by telepaths doing mind scans. But on occasion, other mutants would do a physical search of the area.

Pietro and Wanda Maximoff had the displeasure of being assigned to the physical search this time. They'd both just gotten to the edge of the woods, and Pietro had sped off, leaving his sister to her part while he did his.

Wanda sighed in frustration, and started forward to begin her search.

She didn't have to do this job very often, and only a few times had she been forced to team up with her brother. But she hated each time.

Her brother's power was speed, he could check out his sections quicker than she could. In fact, he'd been assigned three fourths of the work. But despite that, he always finished long before her, and would then get annoyed at her for not being able to keep up.

He just couldn't grasp the idea of other people's speed. He knew he was faster, but he somehow expected people to be able to match his pace.

It was driving Wanda to her last nerve. In fact, she already felt like she was about to snap.

Her brother just grated on her nerves far too much.

"Alright, Wanda, I'm done with my area-oh, you finished, too? And you beat me back!" Pietro, a slender, fit young man with a weaselly face and silvery hair, slid to a stop in the clearing. He looked around rapidly, eyes taking in the details of the woods around him. The movement of the trees, broken branches, footprints on the ground... none leading to or from Wanda's quadrant.

"You... haven't even started yet? Really, sister?" He narrowed his ice-blue eyes at her, voice taking on a sardonic tone. "What, did you bring a damn novel to read? Even a slowpoke like you should have half that place done by now!"

Wanda grit her teeth, and tried to keep her temper in check.

Bad things happen when she exploded, so she'd had to learn self-control.

But Pietro always seemed to be able to destroy that patience.

She didn't hide her scowl, or how her hands had clenched into fists. But she did manage to not fire a hex-bolt at him.

"…Pietro, you've been gone thirty seconds at the most. You can't expect me to have covered a whole square mile of land that quickly."

"Well excuse me, sister!" Pietro rolled his eyes, taking a few steps towards her, hands on his hips. "I actually use my powers to -help- our father's cause! Why don't you just do a mind-scan or some shit like that! I mean, honestly..."

Pietro's glare intensified, staring at the sister he loved... but couldn't help but feel a certain contempt for. His father hardly looked at him, it didn't matter if he saved his life 5, 10, 20 times... Magneto had only eyes for Wanda's skills.

"I don't even get why he puts you on a higher power level than me! I'm at least 10 times more useful! And I don't even get a second glance! Do you know how fucking frustrating that is? Having a layabout, slowpoke sister who gets more recognition than the guy who actually does the work!"

Wanda's eyes narrowed, and her fingertips began to glow with a blue light.

She tried to hold back her anger, but Pietro was asking for it…

"Are you stupid? I can't 'mind scan'. I control probability. You KNOW that! And Father puts me at a higher power level because _I'm more powerful than you_! You run really fast, I can manipulate reality itself. But if you think your power is so much better, then maybe you should do this recon by yourself!"

"Yeah, well, if you're _so_ much more _powerful_ than me, you think you'd at least be able to do 1/4th of the work!" Pietro was really annoyed now... Wanda belittling his power like that was really pissing him off!

"Besides, my power's got _loads_ more practical use! And hey, I'd rather be stuck recon all day every day with my speed than be 'more powerful' and BATSHIT INSANE!" His eyes flashed with anger. He knew that was a low blow, but Pietro was never one to hesitate when crossing the line.

Wanda flinched, and her eyes darkened.

She wanted so much to wipe that smug look off of her brother's face, to make him eat those words…

She knew she had a temper, and she remembered all the insane things she'd done right after coming to the Brotherhood house. But she didn't know why she'd done it.

She'd almost killed her father a few times… But it made no sense. She loved her father, and he'd always been there for her, ever since she was a little girl, just starting to learn her powers.

So when people brought up that dark time in her life…She just wanted them to stop existing.

But if she wasn't careful, she could make that happen.

She shook her head, trying to force down the rage that was building in her.

"…Fine. Go ahead Mr. 'Practical'. Finish this damn recon by yourself. It's obvious that you don't need me."

She turned and started to walk away, trying to keep the anger and hurt inside her under control.

…Sometimes, she wished Pietro would just disappear.

Then he couldn't talk to her like he did, and she wouldn't feel this awful sting.

Pietro glared at her back as she walked away, hands still on his hips in defiance.

"Fine, whatever! I don't need you! Go back to Father, while I do all the work! What else is fuckin' new!" He began walking backwards into the woods, getting ready to turn, and run, and finish surveying the last quadrant when-

Strong hands grabbed him from behind. He was thrown to the ground. He tried to cry out, but almost instantly, there was a dusty combat-boot on his mouth. Above him stood a dark figure, in its hands the black metal of a shotgun gleaming in the dim forest light.

The barrel of the gun shifted to aim directly at Pietro's forehead, and the figure spoke, his young, yet deep voice dripping with malice.

"Move at all without me telling you to, and I blow your fucking brains out. Understand, mutie?"

The 'mutie' blinked, a lump of cold terror rising in his throat. He nodded his agreement the best he could with that boot pressing down on him.

Pietro Django Maximoff, fastest person on earth, had been captured.

And he was absolutely terrified.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Hey! Skchuu team here! In this chapter, we follow two young mutants, who are actually not in Evo. Elixir, aka Josh Foley, is a member of the "New Mutants"… who apparently wasn't good enough for the show :[ (and Wolfsbane was? Sadness…) But you can look him up, he's awesome. Helen is kind of a… non-OC OC. In the comics, Helen is the name of Avalanche's wife. But since it would be creepy to have him married so young (and we like slashing him with Pietro, okay?) , and since we wanted someone with Dominic Petros' real powers, and other plot stuff, we added in Helen. (She's definitely not a self-insert: Kchuu has long blonde hair and a Pietro personality, and Sketchy has short hair and acts like a female Lance….. wow, we really are perfect for Lietro, huh? Haha!) Hope you guys enjoy!

As always, Kchuu = Kurt, Pietro, and now Helen; Sketchy = Todd/Mort, Lance, and now Josh.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

In the center of camp, there was a larger tent with a big red cross painted on the side. It was centrally located, so anyone who was injured in the camp would be able to access its services in a similar amount of time. Helen cautiously opened the flap to this bigger tent, and peeked inside.

There were many benifits to having a healer on the team, benefits that helped everyone. Mutants could injure and be injured in ways that human medicine had no cure for! And having one person who simply had to place his hands on you and use his powers seemed to be amazing for everyone.

Save for one person.

Helen dropped the basket of herbs on a table beside the door, and walked up behind her boyfriend, placing her delicate hands lightly on his shoulders. He always looked so tired nowadays... and his slumped over posture only showed the toll constant healings were taking on him.

"Hey Josh... Are you doing okay?" She began to rub his shoulders gently, trying to comfort the weary boy. As she did so, she let her mutant powers release a bit, sending gentle and relaxing vibrations through his back.

"Shh..." Helen shushed him, continuing the motions. "It feels good to use my powers for something positive for once.. not all of us get to be altruistic 24/7..." She kissed his pale-golden hair gently before moving to sit on the side of his desk.

Normally, her powers created vibrations so intense that they could split the walls, or crack the ground, or even break heavy machinery... but as the gold-skinned medic had said, it took an incredible toll on her arms. She glanced down at the papers in front of him on the desk.

"So... what were you working on? You really can leave some of these tasks to other people, you know..."

Josh chuckled, but his shoulders seemed to slump in some kind of depression.

"Yeah, I wish. I'm making a list of everything I've treated the last month. I'm trying to figure out what supplies need to be a priority, what we need, what we can do without, and hope that the trends in injuries don't change as soon as I get them."

He gave a heavy sigh, and propped his elbows on the table, placing his head in his hands as he looked down at the papers.

"…I'm the only one who knows any of this stuff. I –have – to do it…"

Helen looked concerned. The list was already long, and judging by the looks of his mood.. he didn't seem even halfway done. She leaned over and gently plucked the pen from his hand.

"Look, let me write them. You can dictate. I may not have perfect, typewriter handwriting, but I'm pretty good... And it'll be easier to stay awake, and remember things, if you say them out loud..." She hopped off the desk, and moved to crouch by Josh's chair.

"So scootch, bud." She patted him lightly on the side, urging him to let her have the chair.

A brief grin came onto Josh's face, and he stood up, letting her have the chair.

"Okay okay…Thanks Helen…Now, where did I stop? …Right, the fifteenth. Letsee… Johnny came in with one of those tentacles of his cut, looked like just a scratch. It needed disinfectant and bandages…Toad came in after that with some nasty electrical burns, used my powers on the really bad parts and aloe on the others, needed bandages then too."

The gold mutant paused, waiting for his girlfriend to finish writing what he had said.

"…So…You didn't have any trouble getting the herbs? No one bothered you, and no humans came around, right? I hate needing you to go do it, but I never have the time..."

"It was fine, just keep telling me the things..." Helen wrote as fast as she could, but it was hard to keep up and she was pretty sure she spelled aloe wrong...

As she finished up the sentence, she glanced up at Josh, thinking. "Err, actually, I ran into Nightcrawler and Toad. Fixing some stuff. Kurt looked like he was about to kill me for sneaking around in the woods, but I got off with just a scolding." She laughed. "No knife-wound needs healing tonight!"

Josh frowned, and shook his head lightly.

"I don't think Kurt would hurt you intentionally…But be careful. He's the type to act before he thinks. If he thought you were a human and you didn't correct him, you'd be dead…"

The golden boy looked worried for a moment, biting his lip nervously before he continued with his list.

He hated putting Helen in danger, but nowadays, nowhere was safe.

"…Still the fifteenth. Bobby came in with a concussion, did a quick scan of him then gave him some aspirin…After that, I had three people with bullet wounds come in…Extracted the bullets on two, was too late for the third. Used my powers to patch them up…"

Josh became quiet, and he looked straight ahead, sad look in his eyes.

"…I'm so sick of people dying…"

Helen finished writing, then looked up at him sadly. She reached out one hand, and took his warm, golden one in her own.

"I know... I know you are, Josh. But you've done so much good... It's just impossible to expect that you can save everyone..." She brought his hand to her lips, smiling as she kissed the gold-colored fingers. "But you do amazing work... You've saved so many people..." She laughed a little.

"You saved me... remember...?"

Josh smiled, and squeezed the small hand holding his.

"Yeah, I remember…Heh, I thought you were a human back then…."

He turned to face her, and leaned down to gently kiss her forehead.

"…I've never been more glad that I broke a rule."

"Yeah... I'm glad that you broke it, too..." She smiled weakly. "You know... sometimes I still think about them..." She looked down at her free hand, still clutching the pen between the always-slightly-shaking fingers.

"My dad and brother.. they're still on the human side... and... they were jerks and all, and made me fight on the back lines..." she bit her lip. "And I love all you guys and everything... but sometimes... I just worry..." She looked up into Josh's weary blue eyes with her now-wet grey ones.

"That night I left their ranks... it was to look for my big brother... He had gone missing, and I knew I could help him out of any bad situation with my powers-even if it meant he knew I was a mutant! Even if... he would probably have abandoned me, or worse..." She looked back at the page. All those wounded mutants... some of those injuries... probably even from her brother.

"I wonder if he's okay..."

Josh stared sadly at her, and lightly rested his forehead on hers, his bright blue eyes trying to meet with her lively gray ones.

"…It's okay. You worry 'cause you love them. And it's not like by wishing them to be okay means you don't want us to be okay too. You're like me, you just want this stupid war to end…"

He cupped her cheek with his spare hand, and just held it there, trying to comfort her with his touch.

"I'm sure your brother's fine…If he's anything like you, then he's too tough to let a little thing like war beat him down."

"Yeah..." She consented, and smiled, the sadness leaving her eyes. She leaned forward, just a bit, and kissed her boyfriend gently on the mouth. She pulled back after a moment. "Only he's not a mutant... so I'm still going to worry..."

Josh chuckled, and repeated her actions, pressing his mouth softly to hers for a moment.

When he pulled back, his eyes were filled with deep affection, and the sentiment began to show in even his voice.

"Well, you never know. Maybe he's dormant…If you're a mutant, then there's a fifty fifty chance that he is too…But it's fine to worry…Just don't let it take you over. And never give up hope."

He sighed, and moved his head up to kiss his girlfriend lightly on her forehead again.

"…I love you."

Helen smiled brightly, eyes shining with happiness.

"Yeah, I love you, too!" She laughed, and turned her attention back to the list. "Okay, now, let's finish this gruesome list before the sun rises! You need some sleep in a bad way..."

Josh laughed, and moved away so he could stand up normally.

"Okay then. The bullet thing was the last for that day. During the sixteenth-"

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

The two were up for another half hour before the list was complete, and when it was done, the only thing either of them could do was crawl into bed and sleep for what little time they had before the wakeup call.

It was an endless cycle. People would get up, do their work, and the unlucky few would need to stay up until late into the night. Leaving them with little rest before the morning call was sounded, and they had to repeat the day.

But the worst part was that there was no end in sight.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Hey! Skchuu team here! Time for breakfast with the boys! Too bad Kitty's cooking :[ Yup, back to Kurt (Kchuu) and Mort/Todd (Sketchy) in this chap! If you don't recognize some of the characters, it's because they're from the comics : A quick comicvine search should help you find them well enough! Next chap we get back to Pietro and his captor… and the first real explicit stuff we've posted on here! Yipes!

Look forward to it : Buh-bye!

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

The morning wakeup call sounded just after sun-up every day, and was done by a certain mutant whose scream seemed loud enough to wake the dead, and easily went through the entire camp.

It was a sound that was impossible to sleep through, especially for those whose tents were nearby the morning alarm mutant's.

Which, unfortunately, was where Mortimer's tent was.

The frog-like mutant started into alertness, and quickly clapped his hands over his ears, trying to block out the sound.

The sound eventually faded, and Mortimer gave a groan, keeping his eyes shut tightly, as if trying to deny that the morning was already there.

"Can't they let us sleep in, just for one fucking day?"

He grabbed his blanket, which had only been loosely covering him, and pulled it up so it was over his head.

"….To hell with the stupid wake up call."

Kurt hopped up from his bed, and quickly began pulling on his clothes.

"It's not stupid. Yeah, it's freaking annoying, but ve all have to do our parts. Ve can't just sleep half the day..." He pulled his shirt over his head, then fixed his ruffed fur. "It's not like ve can ask the humans to take a break from killing us for one day..." Kurt strapped on his gun-belt.

"Time for breakfast, froschi." Kurt walked over to Mort's cot, and kicked it, yanking the blanket off of the swaying cot with his tail. "Rise and shine, slimeball..."

Mortimer's eyes snapped open, and he clung to the unsteady cot so he didn't fall off.

"Shit, man! Don't do that!"

As soon as the cot stopped moving, Mort scowled and glared over at his roommate.

"...I miss the old days. Y'know, when you lived in a different house."

The younger man hopped up off of his cot, still dressed in the same clothes as the day before. He quickly smoothed out the rumpled garments, then crouched and searched underneath his bed for his goggles.

He soon found them, and put them on as he stood up again.

"Ugh, do we really hafta go to that stupid mess hall? It's crowded, has a long line, and I think Pryde's cookin' today."

Fifteen minutes later, the two men were sitting at the end of one of the mess halls long tables, both staring at their plates.

"…She messed up waffles, yo."

Mortimer prodded his food with a fork, shivering as it's almost goopy texture gave way.

The waffles looked terrible. The chef had managed to burn one side of them to an almost charcoal black, and leave the other side barely cooked at all.

The only compensation was that, alongside the waffles, two links of very good looking, steaming hot polish sausages had been served.

"Thank God Colossus took care of the meat this time."

Mort stabbed one of the sausages with his fork and brought it up to his mouth, biting into it and looking somewhat pleased.

"…Yeah, saves my breakfast."

Kurt laughed, choking down a bite of the blackened waffle.

"Yeah, I mean, vho put her in charge of cooking? Seriously.. and these measly rations..." He cringed as the last bit of burned waffle passed his lips. "If I vasn't so damn hungry all the time, I vouldn't have to eat this crap... Man, Piotr sure has it rough..."

He chuckled again. "I guess it's good that I didn't hit that vhen I got the chance..."

Mortimer nearly choked on his food, and swallowed painfully before staring at the other mutant in shock.

"…You and Pryde? What the hell, man?"

Behind his goggles, the frog-like mutants eyes narrowed.

"No effing way. I'm not stupid, Nightcreeper. I remember how she acted when we were kids. The first few weeks she knew you, she wouldn't even get within ten feet of your blue hide."

Kurt grinned, taking a bite of the steaming sausage. "Things change, man! I vas her best friend, and vhen her human boyfriend turned on her..." Kurt shrugged. "I guess chicks really do dig zah fuzzy dood!" He swallowed the last of his food, eying Mort's half-finished sausage. "Though... it didn't feel right to just screw her, you know? Ve'd been best friends for so long..."

He looked back at his own plate, smiling a little sadly.

"And I knew she deserved better."

The younger man gave a snort of laughter, and a grin came over his face.

"Yeah right. Nice try, Furball, but I ain't believin' that story. Miss Appearances would never stoop to askin' you, best friend or not."

He caught Kurt's eyes looking at his sausage, and he quickly spiked the piece of meat with his fork, stuffing it in his mouth before the older man could take it.

He swallowed the thing whole and gave his roommate a smug smirk.

"…In fact, I don't even know what kinda girl would wanna do a shag carpet in the first place."

Kurt grinned smugly, raising his eyebrows. He tossed his empty plate into a cart as it rolled by, a short kid with knobbly green skin and a giant arm pushing it.

"I don't care if you believe me or not, it's true. And..." He locked eyes with Todd for a moment before looking over at the table where the Magneto Family sat. "Wanda Maximoff, for one."

Mortimer's smirk fell, and for a minute he was completely silent.

His voice came out, strained and enraged.

"You…Wanda actually…Fucking hell."

With his goggles on, Mort simply looked like he was disgusted and angry, but under his eyewear, his eyes sparked a violent red, proof of his hate and displeasure.

One thing Mort knew about his long term rival right now, was that with the way he was looking at the Maximoff table, he wasn't lying.

"…That just fucking figures."

Mortimer dropped his glare to his silverware on the table, and began to think that, if he wasn't in public, he'd consider throwing the fork at the former X-man.

But, as a traitor and a generally unliked guy, that was just asking to be beat up, or worse.

Kurt laughed, and slapped Mort on the back in a teasing sort of way. He knew that the fact of him screwing the froggy mutant's old crush would grind on his nerves like nobodies business. It'd be best to rub it in while they were still in public-so Mortimer wouldn't do anything crazy.

"Yeah, man! It vas effing ace, dude! I have no idea vhy she came onto me, that chick is veird for sure... and talk about freaky in bed..."

Mort's eyes snapped back up to his rival, glaring daggers at him.

"It fits. She got freaky, you're a freak. Makes perfect sense, man."

Mort's eyes wandered over to the Maximoff table, his intent to take a look at the first, and only girl he'd ever had a crush on. But what he noticed was something entirely different.

His eyebrows furrowed, and his voice lost all its former malice.

"Hey, where the heck is Pietro? He's always with Wanda and their dad at mealtime."

"Shut _up_, dude, you know you're jealous." Kurt rolled his eyes, then glanced back at the table. Pietro's seat was conspicuously empty. That was odd. Usually the silver-haired speedster would never miss the chance to brief his dad of the goings on, usually at a lightning-fast pace. But today...

"Hm, I don't know... maybe patrolling or something? He's not vone to miss these group type things, especially vhen his father's here..." Kurt looked a little concerned. "I don't think ve should vorry too much, though... If that guy gets into trouble, he could alvays run avay..."

"Yeah, unless someone broke his legs."

Mortimer chuckled, and a grin came back onto his face.

"Oh what I wouldn't give tah see that. 'Mighty Pietro, leader of the Brotherhood' all helpless and useless. Then karma would finally have gotten him back for torturing me as a kid."

Mort shifted his attention down to his untouched waffles, and he pushed them away, sticking his tongue out in disgust.

"Ugh, though I'd be cool with karma if they just gave me decent waffles every Tuesday. This is disgustin'."

"Dude, I'll eat them if you don't vant them. Gimme." He pulled Todd's plate towards him, calling across the room to Hisako to pass him the soy sauce. "I think they just need some flavor!" He caught the expertly-thrown bottle, and dumped a little puddle of the brown sauce onto the undercooked food.

"So..." Kurt started munching. "Vhen vas the last time _you_ got some, huh, Morty?"

Mort stared oddly at what Kurt was doing to his food, but snapped out of his daze at the question his enemy posed.

The frog-like mutant scowled, and looked away.

"Like I'd tell you, yah circus act."

Kurt sneered, laughing sardonically.

"Hey, at least circus acts are charming! Come on, spill it! ...And there's no shame in fucking prostitutes, man, If that's the best you can get, then that's vhat you get." He prodded the skinny man's side with his tail. "Come on, man."

Mortimer paused a minute, obviously thinking, then gave his answer in a bitter and hateful tone.

"Fine. Yeah, I banged a prostitute way back when this camp was first being set up. It fucking sucked and I haven't done it since. Yah happy?"

Kurt glanced sadly at him, biting his lip.

"S-sorry, dude... It... it sucked? Did you at least... get your money back or something? If she vas no good, it couldn't have been that mu... shit, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked." He actually felt bad for pressing the subject... he didn't know what he was thinking... of course a frog-dude like Mort hadn't had any decent women, or men, or whatever... He wasn't bad looking, but he was so closed all the time...

"So err... vh-vhat's the lover of your dreams like...? your ideal piece of tail?" He smiled shakily, trying to salvage what he could of the mood.

Mort visibly tensed up, and his eyes, still thankfully hidden by the goggles, slid over to look at Kurt, his head never moving.

"…Why do you wanna know, Fuzzball?"

Kurt swallowed the last bit of his now-spicy waffle, thinking for a moment before responding.

"I-I don't know, I just felt kinda bad for asking you a question like my first vone. It's just something ve used to talk about all the time vhen I vas on the front lines... I guess I didn't really think so much. But... come on, ve talked about this vone on the battlefield encampments, too!" He smiled at the memory, wiping his mouth on the thin paper towel.

"So spill, man! If shag carpets aren't your thing... vhat is? Who'd you like to ...shag?" Kurt winked, chuckling.

"…Yer makin' it sound like you thought I was… gay for you or somthin'."

Mortimer shifted, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable.

"I dunno…someone taller, makes me laugh I guess…Just...Just someone who makes me happy, okay!"

The younger mutant stood, and started walking away angrily, needing to get out of this crowded room, and away from that stupid X-man.

That freak show had no right to ask him these things. No right to make him…Make him remember his first time, and what it had made him realize.

…No right at all…

Kurt just sat there for a moment, a horrified expression on his face. He hadn't meant for it to sound like that at all... It hadn't even crossed his mind...

But the way Toad had said that...

Kurt stared at the space where he'd been only moments before. What self-respecting straight guy wouldn't enjoy his first time scoring...? Though Mort was far from self-respecting...

And possibly... Kurt's eyes widened at the thought, and he quickly began to scamper after the man, he couldn't lose sight of his prisoner.

Far from... straight...?


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Pietro's eyes opened slowly. He spat the blood from his mouth, and began to look around groggily. The last thing he remembered was that military boot connecting with his head... and damn, did his head hurt... He blinked slowly, squinting in the dim light.

The only brightness visible in this little... shed... was a yellow early-morning light creeping in from under the door... and a fizzling purple moth-bulb in the corner.

Something moved in the darkness.

"Who... who's there..." Pietro coughed, trying to move, but there were bonds around his hands and feet.. he was stuck in this uncomfortable wooden chair.

Pietro let out a gasp of fear, despite himself. But half a second later, his eyes narrowed.

"Yeah, we'll see about that. What information do I have that you could possibly care about?" He smirked, always overconfident even in a potentially horrible situation. Leaning forward, staring his captor right in the eyes, he spoke again, tone snide.

"Do you even know who I _am,_ flatscan?"

The human's expression didn't change at all, and the only thing that moved was his mouth.

"Pietro Maximoff. Biological son of Magneto, and bound to know more about the mutant base then ninety-nine percent of anyone else we've captured."

The man's grip on Pietro's shirt tightened, and the human's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Now, do you know who –I- am, freak?"

Pietro scoffed, leaning back in the chair as far as the stern hand on his collar would allow.

"So you did your homework. Pff..." He tried to look calm and collected, when he was, in all actuality, terrified out of his mind. "And why would I care who the hell you are? Humans are less than dirt to me." He smirked for a moment, before squinting at the face in front of him.

"Though you do look a bit familiar for some reason... Like someone I know..." He thought back... someone on camp had looked really similar... but who...?

The human scowled, the hate in his eyes only increasing with Pietro's every word.

"I look familiar because we went to the same high school, back before your kind went public."

The man's strong hand suddenly let go of Pietro's shirt, and moved up, grabbing the speedster's hair instead, pulling it painfully upwards so the mutant couldn't back away.

"But that's not the point. The point is what you're going to tell me. Now, are you going to keep being stupid and avoid the questions, or are you gonna cooperate?"

"Oh right... You were... you were that human scum bangin' Shadowcat, weren't you! I can't believe I didn't recognize your greasy mug before..! Lance... Lance something, right?" Pietro's words were sarcastic, but tinged with pain. He grimaced with discomfort.

"Listen. If you know all about me, you know I'm a speedster. So talk a bit faster, and give me your first six questions. Shoot. Go on. Let's see what I can answer." The silver-haired mutant spoke at a rapid pace, but still understandable. The enmity-filled gaze of his condescending, ice-blue eyes was leveled right at the older man.

Lance Alvers smirked, and pulled harshly up on Pietro's hair.

"I don't think so."

He leaned closer to the mutant, leaving a couple inches between their faces as he stared right into the speedsters eyes.

"You're not in charge here, mutie. -I- am. We'll do this at my pace. Now, where are your base's defenses the weakest?"

Pietro's lip curled. He'd lost the upper hand... if he'd ever had it in the first place. But the over-prideful young man just wouldn't quit.

"Hmmm... Let me think long and hard about that one... Oh, you know what? I've got your answer." He stared flatly into his captor's dark eyes.

"Fuck. You." He spat in Lance's face, saliva hitting the older man's cheek. Pietro's face turned into a snarky grin of defiance.

Lance barely even flinched. He just raised his free hand and wiped away the spit on his face, his dark eyes never looking away from Pietro's.

"…Wrong. Answer."

Hidden by darkness, Lance's foot came up under the chair, kicking it up the same instance he let go of his prisoner's hair.

The chair tipped harshly backwards, and crashed harshly to the ground, Pietro still in it.

It was barely a second before Lance was on one knee at the speedsters side, now with a knife in his hand, though it may have just not been visible until now, and staring down at the speedster with those same hateful eyes.

"Answer the question, Pietro."

The speedster's ears were ringing, and he was disoriented. His hands clutched the armrests they were tied to, knuckles white with the fear he was so adept at hiding. He shook his head to try and clear it, and looked up at Lance with an unsteady gaze.

"N-no. You think I fucking care what you do with that knife? You kill me... I'll be a martyr. I tell you my Father's secrets... Well, I'd rather die than lose my pride, let's just say that." His mouth was a firm line; his teeth set in pain and withheld terror.

The human's dark eyes flicked from the mutant's clenched hands to his wavering eyes, and he paused for a minute in thought.

"…You're no martyr. Martyrs stand for something. You're just another fucking monster pretending your kind have souls…But you're right. Killing you would only make the mutant problem worse; they're defensive of their own…"

Suddenly, the man smirked.

The knife lashed out, and cut the rope tying one of Pietro's arms to the armrest.

His free hand roughly grabbed the wrist of the speedster's now free hand, squeezing it painfully.

"But there _are_ things other than killing you that I can do."

"Pr-pretending we have souls?" Pietro grimaced in pain, eyes flashing with hatred. "Wh-why don't you think about your... fucking ex-girlfriend! Did your precious Kitty-cat have a soul...? A-and..." He tried to tear his hand from Lance's grasp. "y-you're the one who looks like the... g-goddamn monster... here..." He was beginning to look a bit frightened.

As Lance grabbed his wrist, he let out a little cry of pain, and his face paled.

"Like what, you f-fucking flatscan..? You've got nothing. You can t-torture me all you want... but you can't take my pride."

The human's smirk vanished, leaving only cold indifference.

"You wish that was true."

The hand with the knife lashed out again, this time hitting the rope holding Pietro's other hand to it's armrest.

Lance dropped the knife and quickly grabbed the speedster's free wrist, pulling it and the still mostly usable rope over to where the mutant's other wrist was.

Moving with obvious experience, Lance used the rope to tie Pietro's hand's together, making sure the cord was painfully tight around the younger man's wrists.

"This isn't the first time I've tortured someone. I know what it takes to get your kind to talk. I can think of about three ways to 'break your pride' when I'm barely even trying…It's almost sick, how good I am at it…That's why they let me be the one to interrogate you."

Pietro gritted his teeth, face pressed against the cold cement floor.

"Yeah, actually, that's really fucking sick. You say we don't have souls? You're the one doing the torturing... Hey, how many guys missing from our camp have you tortured? Sam Guthrie, he ring a bell? What about Jamie fucking Maddrox? We have one of his dupes back at camp, practically fucking COMATOSE because he has no IDEA where the original is! Listen, I know what you do, and I'm not afraid of you!" His body was shaking with rage and fear, but he tried to suppress it.

"However much you hurt me... I won't talk... I can stand any measure of pain for my side... and my family..."

Lance's eyes seemed to become even darker, but he remained silent as he moved back, kneeling beside one of the speedsters immobile legs.

"…Don't act righteous. For every mutant we killed, we lost ten men… There was a time in my life when I thought that maybe it was a misunderstanding, that even you freaks of nature were human somewhere deep down…But I've lost friends, even family to this war…Lost them to mutants…And I've seen the way you've killed some of them. Freezing them to death, ripping their heads off of their bodies, taking all the iron in their body and ripping it out of them through their pores…No, I gave up the idea of mutants being anything more than monsters a while ago…The same day I lost one of the most important people in my life…"

Lance took another knife, one that had apparently been hanging off of his belt, and sliced the rope holding Pietro's leg immobile.

His free hand grabbed the mutant's ankle, and he forced the leg upwards, bending it so the speedster's heel was touching his thigh.

With the same, uncanny experience he'd demonstrated before, he tied the limb so it would be forced to remain in that position.

"…You're actually lucky. I'm humane compared to a lot of the other guys. They'd take their sweet time getting the info out of you. I'm just interested in getting in out quick."

Lance moved over to the speedsters other leg, and gripped the man's ankle before he sliced the rope.

"You don't even know what I –could- be doing…I know your type, what you value the most. And it's sure as hell not your family."

The speedster's leg became free of its bondage, though Lance's strong hand still gripped it tightly. The human's voice took on a dangerous edge, and he looked over, into Pietro's eyes. A dark, almost horrific light was glinting in the human's dark spheres.

"…Be thankful I'm not taking what I could be."

The human stood up abruptly, and stepped to the side.

The grip he still had on Pietro's leg caused the speedster to be dragged painfully out of the chair onto the dirt floor beside it.

Pietro was absolutely terrified. A cold sweat trickled down his face and back, and his already too-fast heartbeat became a machine-gun whir. He tried to keep everything inside, but as he felt his one leg being pulled, dragging his face and body across the floor, thought of that cold steel, his leg-

_NOT MY LEGS!_ He wanted to cry out, fear consuming him as blood dripped into his eye from the grating pull across the rough concrete. Anything but them... without his legs... he couldn't do anything, he was nothing, worse than Wanda for sure, worse than human-

He closed his eyes tightly, trying to stay strong, body convulsing in sheer terror.

Lance stared down at him, the cold apathy back in his stare.

He saw the fear in the speedster's expression, in his posture…It was exactly the response the mutant was supposed to have.

…The kind Lance was far too good at getting out of people, the kind that was his –job- to get out of people…

The same kind that he secretly knew would haunt him that night.

The older man pressed the smooth blade against the back of the mutant's leg, sliding it against the speedsters pants, cutting through the material, and oh so lightly against his skin.

"…Congrats, you figured out what I –could- be taking."

Suddenly the human let go of the speedster's leg, and quickly fell to his knees, making sure one of his kneecaps was pressed down into the back of his prisoner's own knee, making the temporarily free limb immobile.

"…Be thankful I'm not doing that."

Pietro cried out as the blade sliced through his pants. He was going to do it! This human scum... was going to fucking hamstring him! Anything but this... He felt the material fall away from his backside, and realized something.

If this man were going to immobilize him... take his legs out of commission... It would have been a lot easier to do that when he was in the chair... But this, what he was doing was almost like...

Lance was going to rape him.

Face smashed up against the floor, where the human couldn't see it... Pietro grinned. Taking his legs was the worst thing he could possibly imagine. A tough, strong, hot guy tying him up and having sex with him...?

Fucking kinky.

(BREAK FOR TOTALLY NSFW CHAPTER)

(okay okay we are horribly embarrassed of this but you guys deserve catharsis, too. But unforch, we can't post the whole scene on here… so you'll have to go to adult fanfiction .net! If you are 18+ etc etc. Thanks! Due to weird 'no urls in fanfictions' thing, use this while replacing all the dot's with actual periods.  
xmendotadultfanfictiondotnet/storydotphp?no=600090769 )


	6. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

H-hey guys! Skchuu team here! Wowzers, that was quite the NSFW chapter we had right there. If you didn't read it, here's a short summary:

Lance captured Pietro, and threatened to make it so 'Tro couldn't walk anymore, but instead chose to break 'Tro's pride by raping him. Unfortunately, he didn't realize that our lovely speedster is a huge slut, and likes it rough (haha) So as you'll see if you read it (link at end of last chapter) 'Tro actually likes it, and cries out for more! Causing Lance to go over the edge and get so wrapped up in it that his mutant power activates! Causing an earthquake. Yyyeah. But then he gets so pissed that he stabs 'Tro in the leg, and whateva. The chapter ends on 'Tro convincing him to come to the mutant camp, because the humans wouldn't want him anymore. In a vague way, Lance reveals to the readers some sort of ulterior motives for going with Pietro.

If you didn't read it, We'd actually recommend it! It's pretty tame for a rape scene (haha) It's not even really rape, because 'Tro is asking for it! And there's important character/plot shizz in dere.

But on a completely unrelated note, have some Romy! We were a little nervous about trying this pairing, but it turns out that Sketchy is a natural Cajun! It's really scary. And Kchuu plays Rogue (more WATXM than canon or Evo, really. But still pretty evo) and yeah. Hope you dig it! Yeahh! Enjoy!

Oh! In answer to Warcon's question, a flatscan is the equivalent of mutie. A derogatory nick-name for humans (as apposed to Mutie for mutants.) It comes from the fact that humans can't be picked up by mutant targeting scanners like cerebro or the ones equipped on sentinels.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

The main human encampment was set twenty miles west of the mutant camp. There were several, smaller camps set along the perimeter of the so called 'Mutie forest', but the main camp was far larger, and had far more resources.

Those resources ranged from available weaponry, to the quality of the food. The manpower was also significantly different, though that was likely due to the fact that it was the only camp with women in it.

A fact that was greatly appreciated by Remy LeBeau.

The Cajun Casanova was just another fighter, not that uncommon among the camp, but there was something very different about him.

It wasn't just his accent, or how he constantly had a deck of cards on him, or even how he wore sunglasses twenty-four hours a day.

It was how he refused to give up trying to win over a certain girl in the camp, a certain girl who distanced her self from everyone else, a trait that just made Remy want her more.

He'd flirt with her whenever he had the chance, and today was no exception. He'd been walking back to his tent from breakfast, when he'd seen her by the place where the vehicles were parked.

Naturally, he'd altered his course to go see her, a charismatic smile on his face as he waved.

"Hey cher, lovely day today, wouldn't you say?"

The 'cher' in question, a shorter girl known to the rest of the humans only as 'Rogue' glanced up at him. Heavy purple-black eyeliner rimmed her eyes, and oddly-colored brown-and-white hair was pulled back into a long ponytail. Her expression was a bit sad... and very uncomfortable.

"Well, hey there, Remy... Ah guess it is pretty nice today... Ah just wish we didn't have so many casualties to report..." Her soft brown eyes looked away, staring down at the folder clasped in her hand.

"Ah'm goin' tah drop off today's numbahs right now... Where you goin', sugah?"

Remy came up until he was only a foot or so away from her. He knew she didn't like being touched, but he kept up the hope that he could work some magic and change that.

Though…It was hard to work magic like that when you're caught in a war.

He gave her the best smile he could, after hearing about the casualties.

"Well, I'm goin' where you're goin', cher…How bad is it today? The list I mean."

Rogue bit her lip, fidgeting nervously with the file in her hands. But after a moment, her eyes hardened.

"73 missing... 34 confirmed dead... 4 of them LaBeaus. I'm... I'm sorry, Remy..." She looked up at him, an apologetic look on her face. After a moment, she continued walking, slowly eyes set on the records building a little under a half-mile away.

Remy was stunned for a moment, but recovered quickly.

He walked quickly so he could catch up with the girl, then slowed to walk side by side with her, a solemn look on his face.

"It's alright, cher… These things happen, when you're fightin' a war….The LeBeaus knew that the moment we signed up. "

He paused, then looked over at her, his expression becoming a bit softer.

"I just feel sorry for you, cher. A lady like yourself shouldn't be forced to carry the bad news to the rest of us."

Rogue glanced back at him, a deep sadness in her eyes.

"Well, what else can Ah do? You won't even let me fight, for goodness sakes! There's nothin' else for a poor girl to do but sit back at camp an' watch her family get killed-" Rogue's eyes widened, and she stumbled a few paces, nearly falling to the ground as the earth shook.

Remy stumbled, but quickly caught himself and widened his stance.

After a few years of fighting mutants, it became second nature to deal with surprises like that.

The ground soon became still, and Remy very slowly went back to his normal posture.

"…An earthquake?"

He turned to look at his lady-friend, and saw her nervous expression.

He grinned, trying to lighten the mood and calm her nerves with his attitude.

"Well, that ain't strange at all. Is it?"

"N-no... Ah guess it ain't..." Rogue was clearly getting flustered by now. Normal boys usually gave up on pursuing her after she was cold to them for so long... but this guy... this Remy... he never quit.

She wished he would... He was nice, witty, charming, and handsome, to boot... She would have loved nothing more than to give in to his tactful courtship, but... She just couldn't.

No relationship with her could end well...

Rogue's eyes widened briefly. She had dropped the folder in the shock of the moment... Bending down, and quickly hopping back up, she didn't realize the earth was shaking until she fell-

Right into Remy.

The man's eyes widened behind his glasses, and a grin spread over his face.

The untouchable Rogue: cold, mysterious, beautiful, and a good person at heart.

All that, and he'd probably been the first to touch her in a long time, even my accident.

"You alright, cher?"

He put one hand around her waist to steady her, and his other hand, covered by a fingerless glove, moved to hold Rogue's hand.

"Looks like the quake has you a little unsteady on your fee-"

Remy suddenly gave a jolt. Something was wrong.

He had brushed his fingers against Rogues just barely exposed wrist, and it had felt like the touch had sapped him of something.

Something very specific.

Rogue let out a strangled gasp, and stepped back, She had felt something go into her... something strange, something different... Something she shouldn't be feeling if she had just touched a human man...

Her eyes flicked to Gambit's, her brown eyes shifting and changing as they stared at his face. In the reflection of the black sunglasses he always wore, she could see her own eyes blackening... their irises turning a frightening blood-red.

She cried out, and stumbled backwards into a tree... Which immediately started glowing with a strange, hot light that emitted from her hands.

"R-remy, what's happening?"

Remy's eyes widened behind his glasses.

He knew the color that was forming in Rogue's eyes. It matched the color of his own. He also knew that glow that was coming her hands and the tree…and how deadly it was.

If she was causing it, then…

"Rogue, whatever you do, don't let go of that tree." Remy tried to keep his voice calm, but he couldn't help the nervousness that he felt.

Something that big, turned into an explosive?…He and Rogue would be killed if it went off.

We walked slowly towards her, careful to not startle her into taking her hands off of the tree. Soon he was standing right next to her, and he placed his hand on the glowing tree, concentrating.

Soon, the tree's glow faded, and Remy felt a flow of energy go into him. He gave a sigh of relief.

"…You can let go now, cher."

Rogue let go of the tree, clenching her eyes tightly shut as she did so. Remy was in front of her, his hands on either side of her shoulders... She couldn't get away. Her voice came, trembling slightly with fear.

"S-so Remy... y-you're a mutant... too?" She gritted her teeth, a knot of terror forming in her stomach. If the other people in the camp found out what she was...

Remy smiled, though he felt almost as nervous as the girl he was holding still.

"Well now, guess our little secrets got on out to each other."

He took a quick look around them, making sure they were alone.

Some men were running back and forth, trying to figure out what had just happened, but none of them were coming even close to them, or giving them any attention.

Deciding it was safe enough, he took one of his hands off of rogue, and removed his sunglasses.

Red irises with black where there should have been white, Remy's eyes alone told that he wasn't human.

"So, cher…What're we gonna do now?"

Rogue looked up at him, the same eyes meeting each other. Seeing Remy... the boy she'd known for so long, who became the man she now knew... for the first time, with nothing covering his eyes... She felt an odd connection to him.

"A... Ah don't know..." She leaned forward, breaking eye-contact to cling to him, pressing her body against his. "Just... whatever you do... don't touch mah skin again..." She shivered against him, feeling more vulnerable than she ever had in her life.

Remy's smile faltered slightly, and he put his arms around her waist, careful to make sure his fingers touched fabric.

"…What's your power, cher? 'Cause right now, it sure looks like mine. But I don't think that's really what Ms. Rogue can do."

Rogue smiled weakly, laughing a bit.

"Ever since Ah was a teenager... whenevah anyone would touch me... Well... Mutants... I'd copy their powers... Humans..." Her face became melancholy, and she rested her head on his chest, as much to hide her eyes from a passerby as for comfort.

"Well, if they made it... they usually went into a coma..." The brunette's voice was full of pain as memories flashed through her mind.

The man held her a bit tighter, trying to comfort the obviously pained girl.

"…That's an awful hard power to hide, cher. But don't worry, old Remy's very good at keepin' secrets, and keepin' 'em far more hidden than usual."

Remy paused, and was careful to keep his eyes low, not letting anybody see his eyes as they walked past.

One man came particularly close to seeing them, passing by the couple with only a few feet's distance between. But he went by without comment, simply taking one of the jeeps in the lot behind them and driving away.

Remy watched the man go, a suspicious glint in his eye.

"..Now I wonder where Alvers is off to…"

Remy gave his head a quick shake. Now wasn't the time to think about that, no matter how much the camp's main interrogator unnerved him.

"Look Rogue, you and I've gotta move, and fast. We can't have nobody seein' those pretty eyes of yours, now can we?"

He put his own sunglasses on, and moved away from her, letting only his hand hold hers, her skin hidden by her glove.

"Now follow close behind me, I know somewhere we can go where it's safe…Or safer than here, at least."

Rogue nodded, eyes flicking up to meet his face briefly before looking back at the ground.

"O-okay, Remy. Ah trust you... a-and... thanks." she began following behind him, keeping her eyes to the ground as he began moving through the woods, away from the camp.

For some reason, her heart was racing. Long after the adrenaline of being discovered and taking a power wore off... he heart kept thumping, a steady pounding in her ears, making her normally pale cheeks flush.

She hadn't felt like this around a man since...

Since Cody.

Her brow furrowed in a pained frustration, and she let her hand fall from Remy's grasp, just following him through the dense trees. She couldn't let him get close to her... It would just cause them both pain in the long run...

Remy was careful to avoid places with too many people, and to hold onto Rogues hand. He couldn't risk losing her before he got the to-

He felt Rogue's hand slip away, and he turned to look at her, brow furrowed in confusion.

"Something wrong, cher? It's not a good idea to let go 'till we're done goin' to where we're goin'."

Rogue looked up at him with those strange eyes, mouth a firm line. She brushed some loose bangs behind one ear, and answered, voice determined.

"Look, I can do it on my own, okay? Thanks for your help, but... I'll be fine, alright? Just keep going..." She looked away, gloved fingers closing idly around a tree branch, fidgeting under his gaze.

Remy put on a teasing smile, the sunglasses masking the worried gleam in his eyes.

"Well, not to make little of your talents, cher, but these woods and this area can be tricky. And it may not've seemed like it yet, Remy can move pretty fast through these trees."

He reached out, and once again took Rogue's hand into his own.

"I don't want to lose you here, Rogue. If someone finds you here and sees your eyes, you're as good as dead."

"O-okay, Remy..." The younger girl couldn't mask her distress, soft lips twitching downwards as she looked away. She forced her face into a more serious expression.

"But don't get too used to this, okay? It's not good for people to get too close to me..." Her tone protested the contact, but inside... her fingers relished it. The firm, but gentle grasp of the Cajun's strong fingers, so similar to how he'd held her...

But then again, she was certain he was like this with all the girls.. A strong, handsome guy like him couldn't possibly be interested in a rather plain, untouchable girl who was a little too fond of the color black...

Remy frowned, and turned to face her fully.

They were in a safer part of the woods, so they could afford to stop and talk right now.

"Now what's all that about, cher? You sayin' that you'd prefer to be alone than to have Remy's company? Or do people in general just seem unappealing?"

His tone was joking and flirtatious, but he looked at her with a degree of seriousness. Rogue always distanced herself, and he wanted to know why.

"If it's about your powers, cher, then it seems to me that a pair of gloves handles the problem just fine."

A smile came to Rogue's darkly-painted lips despite herself.

"No, it's not that... Ah like your company just fine! The problem is with me... Whenever I try to get close to someone, Ah just end up... hurting them in the end..." Her fingers tightened around the older man's hand almost involuntarily.

"M-mah first boyfriend... Wh-when we first kissed... Ah put him into a coma..." She closed her eyes, forehead creasing in pain as she remembered. "Later... with the X-Men... Ah was toxic in more ways than one... nearly every mission Ah went on... Ah... Ah ruined somehow... And Ah... let myself be manipulated by Mystique, an' Mesmero... Ah helped Apocalypse get free..." She bit her lip, not wanting to continue.

"And Ah practically started this whole messed up war..." Her voice was soft, but full of pain. A tear, muddy with eyeliner, slid down her cheek.

Remy's smile dropped, replaced by a look of concern.

"Rogue…"

He lifted his free hand to her face, stopping just before he touched her. He seemed to think for a moment, then wiped away her tear, careful to let only the fabric of his glove touch her skin.

"Look, nothin' in this war was caused by you. It's caused by people hatin' other people when they got no reason to…It's not somethin' one girl can make happen, cher."

She looked up at him, tears still seeping out of her strangely black eyes. The young mutant cringed away from his hand, and wiped the tears off her own cheeks.

"Y-you don't understand, sugah! Ah caused this! B-back when Ah was at the institute, m-mah roommate was... was Megan Gwynn... Pixie... the girl who... the girl who..."

Remy's eyebrows furrowed in thought.

What Rogue was saying rung some bells…

Institute…Pixie…

He tensed up in shock.

"That girl was… The person who killed Charles Xavier…"

Rogue nodded, then sank her head into her hands.

"A-ah didn't think she'd go that far... Ah didn't think she'd actually do it... Ah just thought she... she missed her family, an' was frustrated, like the rest of them... Ah should've told someone... this could have all been avoided... Ah wouldn't have had to leave..." Her shoulders shook, and she tried her very best to keep from breaking down.

This was the worst possible thing that could happen... now he'd leave her alone in these woods, and tell the others that she's a mutant... then she'd really have no home to return to...

Remy was lost in thought for a moment.

Xaviers death, though not the only cause, was a major factor that started the war. Pixie's name was practically a swear word amoung mutants for what she'd done. But from what Rogue was saying…She was there too…and she… could've stopped it?

The man looked down at the girl, his face neautrel but for his eyes, which were confused, and disbelieving.

…She must have been only a teenager when all this had happened. A teenager stuck in a time when every human was beginning to turn on her, when life was starting to show it's ugly side to her…When she'd still expected the best out of someone, but they'd let her down.

"…It's not your fault, cher."

He moved forward, and placed his hands on her shoulders, looking her straight in the eyes as he spoke.

"You weren't the one who stabbed Xavier. And you're not the one who started humans on the idea of all us mutants bein' 'monsters'… You say you didn't think the girl would go that far, and I believe you. Don't beat yourself up for being wrong one time. We all do that at some point in our lives."

Rogue forced a smile, wiping her eyes again. She hated him seeing her like this... She looked back up at him, actually finding a bit of comfort in his words.

"D-don't y'see, Remy? Ah'm tryin' ta save you from being wrong this time! Just don't... don't get too close to me, okay?" She sniffed one final time, forcing herself to be strong.

"S-so, where're you takin' me anyway, sugah...?"

Remy frowned. He just couldn't get through to her…Though that wasn't surprising. She must have blamed herself for this whole war for years…He probably wouldn't be able to change her mind right away.

"Where we're goin', cher, is to the LeBeau camp. Y'see, me and my family, we have connections. It's a small thing to have our tents stationed a ways away from the main camp with no one complainin' 'bout it."

His mouth suddenly turned up in a smirk.

"And it's another small thing to hide a couple of mutants, especially if they're one of our own. Namely, me and you."

Suddenly, he took Rogues hand and drew it up, then kissed it lightly.

"And, just so you know, cher, I know a mistake when I see it. And you're not one."

Now that her hand was in his again, he grinned, and began to lead them along the path again, keeping his eyes on the lookout for humans.

As she was led through the dense forest, following in Remy's agile footsteps, Rogue felt something blossom in her heart. It wasn't a crazy, passionate feeling... she'd lost the ability to feel things like that long before this war even began... She'd resigned herself for so long, thinking that no one would ever love her... Not Cody, not Scott, not any of the other boys she'd had crushes on...

She'd long since given up hope for a happy, normal life... But here was someone... who, against all odds, had learned her secret, even felt the draining effects of her power... and still tried to court her.

A little smile came to her lips.

She sure wasn't going to be an easy catch... But hey... It was a gamble, but...

Why not give Remy LaBeau a chance?


	7. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Hey guys! Skchuu team here! In this chapter, Kurt has a stunning realization! And Mort is forced to fix more electronics. Yyyeah. Fun stuff. : Enjoy!

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Kurt flipped the cold steel around in his fingers. The smallest shift in the angle of his thumb caused the knife to spiral in the air, and he caught it deftly in his other hand. After flipping it from finger to finger with expert grace, he threw it up again, this time grabbing it with his tail perfectly before sliding it back into its sheath with flawless precision.

"I'm freaking... bored, man." Kurt yawned, kicking at some grass with his bare toes. He had taken off the uncomfortable military boots, as it was a nice day and they were a ways away from camp. Todd was busying himself fixing some kind of satellite dish... Kept giving inaccurate signals or something.

"You going to be done soon?"

Mortimer let out a growl of frustration.

"No, I'm not. And you askin' every ten minutes ain't helpin', Fuzzball."

The frog-like mutant turned his attention back to the satellite he was working on.

The wiring had been fried by a mutant who had stupidly been training in the area.

Apparently they didn't know that electricity powers and electronics just didn't mix.

"If you're so effing bored, then go play house with Wanda or something. I've got betteh things to do than listen to you whine like a four year old."

"Play house vith Wanda? Geez, man, you still sore about that?" Kurt climbed up the side of the small metal tower, hands gripping the smooth metal with a strange ease. He came up right next to where the frog-boy perched on the metal rungs affixed to one side of it.

"So... is there anything I can do to make this go faster? Because you know the second I left to do anything more interesting, you'd be outta here..." The blue man's yellow eyes trained on what the younger mutant was doing. "Though that does look pretty difficult..."

Mort gave a huff of annoyance, his eyes looking over at his guard. For once the amber spheres were unhidden by his goggles, which were currently hanging around his neck.

"Well duh it's hard, why do yah think Magneto didn't get rid of me after he found out 'bout me sendin' those weapon plans to the humans? Mechanics, technicians, electricians, those are all rare here. It takes years to learn how to do it good, even if we could spare men to train to do it…So I'm too valuable to kill, no matteh what I do."

Mortimer's expression became blank, then he turned his gaze back to the fried circuitry.

"…If you wanna help, then either stay outta my way and be quiet, or get us lunch. Two sausages ain't enough to hold me over 'till dinner."

"Okay, okay, I'll get you some food. Just..." Kurt turned, and sat on the edge of the the tower. "Tell me something..." He watched the large webbed hands move, deft fingers moving the pliers with stunning rapidity and accuracy.

"Ever since this morning, you've been acting really snarky... and grumpy, and rude..." A half-smile came to the blue-boy's thin lips. "Even more than usual!" He let out a small laugh, looking away, out over the trees.

"If it's something I said this morning... look, I'm sorry. But... I vant to know how I offended you, okay? It's no fun being around someone who is snubbing you 24/7... And I mean, this is even vorse than normal! Seriously, man, if it's something I said..."

The younger man paused for a minute, his pliers not touching anything but air.

"…Look, Wagner. It's obvious that my love life has been either terrible or non-existent for pretty much my whole effin' life. So I don't like talkin' about it."

Mortimer's hands started moving again, pulling out dead wires with the pliers and tossing them to the ground below.

"So you makin' me talk 'bout it…It just put me in a bad mood. Get it?"

Kurt made a face, scratching the back of his head. He thought hard for a few moments, then spoke.

"Here's the thing, Mort... I could understand the bitterness like, if you still looked like you did vhen you vere a teenager..." His tail flicked back and forth with nervous tension. "But you're not actually that bad looking now, man! You could get some ass, easy! There're some pretty desperate girls in the camp... And some pretty not-desperate girls, if you vanted to put in some effort..." Kurt shrugged,

"If a blue demon-guy like me can get laid... vhy not you? I mean, you cleaned up pretty nice..."

Mort couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter, and one corner of his mouth tweaked up in a smirk.

"Let's just say none of the girls here are interestin' to me. No offense to whoever you've tapped lately."

Though still trained on his work, Mort's eyes became troubled, and his smirk vanished.

"…And I may 'clean-up' okay, but what's it worth? Even if I found someone I was interested in, I can almost guarantee yah that they'd neveh have the same interest in me…It's practically a fact, Furball."

"N-none of the girls?" Kurt's eyes went wide, and he gave Todd an incredulous stare. "But we've got the best the mutant world has to offer! C'mon man, Betsy Braddock? Have you -seen- those hips? And Alison Blaire-not really my type, but she's a hottie for sure! And Emma Frost... a little whorish, but still! They'd never go for me, but... to say they're not... interesting..." He smirked, looking up at Todd.

"If those girls aren't interesting to you, then who are? No seriously, I vant to hear this! Who can beat out Psylocke, the Dazzler, _and_ the White queen?"

Mortimer scowled again, this time looking angry.

"Didn't I just tell you I hate talkin' 'bout this stuff? No one beat them out. They're just not interestin'. Now drop it!"

Mortimer gave a soft swear as he realized he just pulled a wire that he shouldn't have.

Damn it, this stupid X-man just wouldn't quit, and it was hard enough to sort through these wires without worrying about how much he was letting the other man know.

Kurt shrugged, heaving a small sigh. He was getting bored even with this conversation.

"Okay, vhateveh, dude. I'm gonna go get us some lunch. I'll literally be right back... okay?" Kurt hopped down to the ground, pushing off the side of the tower and doing two neat flips before landing soundlessly in the grass. He knew exactly where their lunches were... just a quick 'port, and 'port back, he could make it in 30 seconds...

Mort paused, waiting for the exploding sound that happened whever Kurt 'ported.

The moment it sounded out, he lept off of the tower, landing in a crouch before he broke into a sprint.

He rushed towards the woods, dodging around trees and bushed as fast as he could.

He knew he'd only have a few seconds to run, but it was better than nothing. If he was lucky, Kurt would follow at a different angle, and they'd end up going different ways, never meeting.

Never getting caught.

Mortimer narrowed his eyes and began to run faster, though his lungs already had trouble keeping up.

He didn't want to be stuck in this stupid prison anymore, he just wanted out.

But he only had a few more seconds before Kurt started chasing him.

In fact, if it was the thirty seconds that he thought it was, then the older mutant would start chasing him in three, two, one-

"You BASTARD!" Kurt had dropped the lunches, and began sprinting, 'porting to just behind the fleeing mutant. He began leaping off trees, gaining momentum before he started running on all fours, the distance between them getting shorter and shorter.

Mort had heard the other mutant's yell, but he hadn't looked back. It would just slow him down.

His legs were actually designed for jumping, not sprinting. But the trees and bushes were close enough together that it was faster to just run.

Which was a disadvantage, since Kurt could run faster than him.

His lungs were begging for air, and he had so much adrenaline pumping through his system that it was hard to think.

He could just barely see light from the edge of the woods now. It was still a ways away, but he could see it!

Was he actually going to make it this time? Would he finally get out of here?

Yes! Kurt hadn't caught him yet, he must've taken the wrong way! He was home fr-

Mort looked over his shoulder, and his eyes widened in shock and fear.

Kurt was right behind him.

An almost animalistic cry leapt from Kurt's throat as he dove, tackling the fleeing mutant to the hard earth. They rolled a few meters before Kurt ended up on top, grasping the younger man's wrists, his body weight holding Mortimer to the ground.

"Y-you... Blödes Arschloch! Scheisskopf!" Kurt spat the German obscenities in a hiss, voice full of rage. His eyes flashed with unconcealed anger. "I trusted you! Verdammt! ... Damn... Hosenscheisser..."*

Still wild with adrenaline, Mort struggled violently, barely even registering what Kurt had said.

"Let me go! Get the fuck offa me and LET ME GO!"

He writhed against his captor, trying desperately to loosen the man's tight grip on him.

Unable to move, Mortimer's adrenaline high was quickly wearing down, though his struggling stayed at a constant pace.

"I want outta here! I want to get the hell outta this fucking pri-"

Mortimer suddenly let out a gasp, his eyes widening.

He'd brushed up against Kurt a bunch of times while struggling, but just a second ago, he'd brushed his crotch against the other man, and…

"G-get off!"

All anger left Kurt's face. His eyes went wide, and his jaw fell slack. His hands loosened on Mort's wrists, but still held them firmly to the ground. There was something pressing into him. Something that, considering the circumstances, should -not- be there.

Everything made sense.

Kurt squinted down at the younger man, yellow eyes searching amber ones for any sign of the truth.

"Mort... You're... gay..?"

*(Just a note: Kurt says some very not-nice things to Mort in German. Here are the translations, so you can get the full effect without having to google :P

Blödes Arschloch - stupid asshole

scheisskopf - shithead

Hosenscheisser - coward (literally "pants-shitter" :P )


End file.
